Bus Driver Accused Of Kicking Student Off Bus Who Was Having Seizure

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OAKLAND PARK, Fla. (CBS Tampa) – A student’s family is outraged after a bus driver allegedly kicked a student off the bus who was having a seizure.

Broward County eighth grader Andrew Shepard was sitting in the back of the bus when he began to suffer a medical emergency. Shepard has diabetes and Addison’s disease, which can cause very low blood pressure and lead to a coma.

“He was on the bus in the back, and I turned around and saw him twitching,” Shepard’s sister, Jazmen Lucas, told WSVN.

Lucas immediately told the bus driver that something was wrong with her brother.

“I said, ‘Can you take me home like to my house because he’s having a seizure?’ and he was like, ‘No, you have to get off the bus,'” she said. “I called my mom, and she said called 911.”

“He looked my child in his face and told him to get off the bus,” Shepard’s mother, Cynthia, told WSVN. “How do you do that?”

The boy could not move and his sister had to lift him from his seat and carry him off the bus where he collapsed.

“Having a seizure is like dead weight. He’s a big kid. It takes a lot for her to do that by herself,” Cynthia said in tears. “I’m beyond furious.”

The bus driver took off once the two kids were off the bus.

“Neighbors came out and they were helping, everyone was helping,” Cynthia explained. “The paramedics got there, his blood sugar was 30. A normal blood sugar is 80 to 120. He can die. He can go into a diabetic coma and die.”

The bus driver didn’t follow protocol and should have pulled the bus over and called for help, Cynthia claimed.

“He’s a coward,” the angry mother said.” He let my son get off this bus and left my son pretty much to die. If my daughter was not there, my son wouldn’t be here today. All he had to do was call 911. No one asked you to help him, put your hands on him or anything, just call 911, and you didn’t.”

The school board has started an investigation into the incident and staff is working with the family to provide updates accordingly, WSVN reported. All of their school buses have security cameras on board and the school board plans to review the footage as part of the investigation.

Shepard returned back to school Wednesday with an increased dose of his medication.